by Jason Eisenberg

Civic leaders call for additional time to inform public about offshore LIPA wind park proposal

Despite assurances from Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) officials and some lawmakers, residents and civic leaders remain skeptical about the environmental and energy benefits of a proposal to put an offshore wind park between Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park. They are asking LIPA to make a greater effort to outline the plan in detail, and to inform the public about the proposal before beginning construction.

"At the meeting I attended, members from the federal government, LIPA, Florida Power, and the Army Corps far outnumbered the members of the community they were supposedly informing," said Phil Healey, President of the Biltmore Shores Civic Association in Massapequa. Healey said he questioned officials about the plan, but he did not receive adequate answers.

"I am very protective of our quality of life, so even though wind energy could be a good idea in some ways, I can't look at this in a vacuum. When I look at the facts, the negatives outweigh the positives," says Healey.

Bill Lauder, a lifelong resident of Amityville, opposes the plan and the location chosen for the wind turbines. "I don't understand why this has to be done in the area of Amityville. Who decided this and who is going to benefit from it?" he asked.

A LIPA spokesman said that the location for the wind park was chosen because it is out of the flight path of most types of migratory birds and is the best area for picking up strong and consistent winds to power the turbines.

Supporters of the proposal also point out that a series of open house meetings were held last month to inform the public about the long-discussed offshore wind park. The meetings took place at Robert Moses State Park, Tanner Park Senior Center in Copiague, and Massapequa Park Village Hall, with each offering separate afternoon and evening sessions.

Michael Lowndes, LIPA's Director of Media Relations, and Gordian Raacke, the Executive Director of Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI) both attended the open house meetings and said they were satisfied with the turnouts and the quality of questions they received from a wide distribution of people. "I was glad to see hundreds of people attend, ask important questions and provide helpful comments," Raacke said. "It was especially gratifying to see so many younger people come out and show interest in this," Lowndes states, "They can take pride from Long Island being the first in the nation to produce power this way."

During each open house session, members from (LIPA), Florida Power and Light (FPL), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) made presentations explaining why they believed offshore wind power was a good idea and how the plan would impact the community.

Their proposed wind park will consist of 40 turbines, each of which will be almost 300 feet high, and together will produce a total of 140 megawatts. The turbines will be placed four to six miles out from the nearest shoreline and will cover about eight square miles of water located between Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park. This facility would generate enough energy to power approximately 44,000 Long Island homes. In addition to the turbines, an underground transmission cable will have to be built in order to connect the wind park with one of LIPA's energy substations on land.

Lauder said that the impact from the proposal will hit Amityville the hardest and that residents are simply unaware of what the implications of the plan are for their community.

"They (LIPA and FPL), say we are putting the wind park here without even thinking things out," says Lauder, "They want to run this cable through the Amityville channel and our roads, disrupting the people who live here, yet they could not even hold one of their hearings in Amityville."

Lowndes countered that the plan will have absolutely no effect on anyone's home or private property, because the cable will be run under state parkways and property owned by the Long Island Rail Road. No construction will begin until LIPA signs a Power Purchase Agreement with the developer FPL, which will ensure reasonable electric prices for the public, he said. He could not, however, give a specific answer as to the elevation underground of the transmission cable or the possibility of expansion of the wind park in the future.

LIPA and FPL, the developer of the project, together submitted an official permit application to the Army Corps of Engineers in late April. According to the USACE, they then issued a notice in early June to inform the public about the proposed plan and offered a window of about one and a half months for people to send in their comments. Opponents say the problem is that many people on Long Island are not only unaware of this public comment period, but are also unfamiliar with most of the specific details involved with the wind park plan itself.

It’s that lack of knowledge which Healey attributes to why many newspaper and television polls maintain there is overwhelming public support for the plan. Healey, who attended the second of two meetings at Massapequa Park Village Hall, says that there has been little effort by the parties involved with the plan to properly notify the public about the open houses or the public comment period. And, while he said wind power might be a good idea in itself, he points out that it is one of the most expensive ways to produce energy. He wants to know what the cost is going to be, and how the plan will affect everyone's electric rates. "It's an alternate source of energy, but considering the dollars and cents per kilowatt it will cost us, this will be more expensive than how it is already being done," he said.

LIPA's Media Relations Director, Michael Lowndes, acknowledges the need for more public outreach and says that LIPA would be happy to accommodate any person or group with concerns. As far as the visual impact, Lowndes says that the turbines will be so far out in the water that, even on a clear day, they will appear very small even from the beachfront. "These turbines almost six miles out into the water certainly cannot look any worse than those ads we see being flown across the beach by plane every day," Lowndes says.

LIPA and FPL are not willing to make the guarantees many public leaders would want before backing this plan, said Healey who wants the public to see the construction plans in their entirety, the final elevation of the cable and whether or not people's homes and private property will need to be dug up or disturbed when it is built underground. He also wants assurances that the 40 turbines don’t become 80, 120, or more, to the point where there will be turbines down the entire coast of Long Island. He has filed a request with the USACE to hold a formal hearing with public leaders and now awaits a response.

"The Army Corps of Engineers determines the permit process and whether or not there will be another hearing so there is a good possibility that this wind park could be built off our shores without much of the public ever even knowing how it will impact them," Healey says.

The plan is an attempt to address the need for pollution-free, reusable energy, which will protect the environment of Long Island and the health of the people, said Raacke and LIPA officials maintain that the wind park will produce power without the negative impacts that fossil fuels and nuclear power plants cause to the environment. The proposal will also benefit the community by creating jobs both during and after construction and dramatically reducing the amount of toxins such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that are released into Long Island's air. The plan will also help decrease dependency on foreign oil and the 40 wind turbines will act as an artificial reef, improving recreational fishing in the area.

Lauder remains unconvinced about the benefits of the proposal.

"This whole thing bears looking into." he said. "With no proper notice, this deadline for public comments is ridiculous, it should be extended at least two months, and also if this is such a good idea how come Senator Clinton and Senator Schumer have not made one comment on it."

Anyone who would like to make a comment on the proposal can submit them to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A public comment form, as well as more information on the proposed project, is available at the following website, www.LIoffshoreWindEnergy.org. All comments regarding the wind park should be sent in writing and must reach the USACE office by July 22, 2005. All comments should be sent to:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - New York District, ATTN: Regulatory Branch, LIPA Offshore Wind Park Application, Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, Room 1937, New York, NY 10278-0090